


Cheating Death

by Cordelia69



Series: Love above all else [7]
Category: The Musketeers (2014)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-07
Updated: 2017-03-07
Packaged: 2018-09-30 02:48:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,704
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10151624
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cordelia69/pseuds/Cordelia69
Summary: It's a beautiful day in Paris and what is better than spend it outside?Season 3 Spoilers. Slightly AU





	

**Author's Note:**

> Many thanks to my friend and beta [Skep](http://archiveofourown.org/users/Skep) because she bear with me even when I have a lot of ideas but I end writing one shot.

It's almost summer in Paris and the Queen, thanks to the sunny day, decides to pass the afternoon outside. She spares Louis from the lessons of the day and she almost begged the Minister to join them in the gardens.

  
"Your Majesty, I really need to finish this paperwork before the Council tomorrow," the Minister states, sitting at his desk.

"Aramis, please, It's such a wonderful day that it's a pity to spend it closed inside," she replies.

"But, your Majesty..." he retorts.

"No buts, Aramis. Don't make me order you to come outside. Besides, Louis has nobody to play with," she replies, knowing that bringing her son into the conversation is a good way to make Aramis change his mind.

He looks at her in a way that let she knows she won and smiles. "A couple of hours and then I come back to finish," he mutters.

"Deal," she says, extending her hand.

"Deal," he replies, taking her hand and shaking it.

\---------------------------------------

Louis is already outside waiting for them. Athos and Emma are with him. Aramis smiles, seeing them, his whole family finally together in one place.

"You knew that he was coming," he whispers to the Queen.

"Yes, but he wanted to surprise you," she tells him. He smiles again, grinning at Athos. The little girl wiggles out of Athos' arms as soon as she sees Aramis and opens his arms to take her.

Athos lets him play with both the children while he talks with the Queen.

"It's good to see him so happy and relaxed around them. He suffered a lot in the years he couldn’t be near him," Athos says, keeping an eye on the Minister and the children and one that scans around.

"Yes. Louis is so happy to have him. He isn't only his First Minister, he's a friend and a mentor. I didn't tell Aramis but Louis sometimes says that he wishes that Aramis would be his father. I can't tell him it's the truth, and I can't tell Aramis because I don't want to make him suffer more. He has you and Emma and he's happy," she tells him. He moves his eyes from the scene in front of him to look at her, surprised. He didn't expect to hear something like that, especially from the Queen herself. He knows that Aramis would be thrilled to hear that but it would be harder to hide his true feelings for the child. And he loves Emma like she's his real daughter. He shows a little smile to the Queen, nodding his agreement and turns to look at his lover and his children.

"Alright, stop," Aramis orders, laying flat on his back, with Emma and Louis astride on his chest. "If you bounce on me one more time I'll throw up my breakfast," he explains, smiling. How he's ended in that position is a mystery to Athos but he smiles when the King stands up abruptly muttering "Eww" and moving Emma away from Aramis.

The Minister grins, standing up and leaving the children with the governess. Once upright he grimaces in pain, massaging his side. Athos knows that it's a symptom of the illness Aramis has from Douai, but he doesn't say anything not knowing if the Queen knows or not. Aramis smiles at him in gratitude and walks to the nearer bench.

"He's becoming bigger and heavier and I won't be able to play like that with him soon," he says, sitting.

"When he will be bigger and heavier we'll let have him a real horse and not you," the Queen replies, giggling.

"Fair enough," he says, grinning.

They sit down on the bench, talking and keeping an eye on the children.

\---------------------------------

Emma is learning to walk. She takes every occasion to wiggle out from whoever has her in their arms and wobble everywhere. Athos sometimes finds her outside his office not knowing how she climbed the stairs. And today is not different. With Aramis, it was simple because she climbed onto him and he had her in his arms for the whole time but the governess, after seeing that both kids were alright playing in front of them, started chatting. At some point, Louis notices that the little girl is wobbling away. He doesn't lose time calling for their governess or one of the parents, deciding to follow her where she's going, sure that he can stop and bring her back if needed.

Not only Emma is starting to walk but she is fascinated by everything around her, butterflies and fishes the most. So she's following a blue butterfly now, but a noise coming from the fountain distracts her from her purpose.

Most of the fountains scattered around the Tuileries host a great range of fish and the one near the little girl has variety of red fish, that attracts Emma's attention. The edge is low and the little girl has no problem climbing it, but the water is deep and dark. She tries to stretch to catch a fish but she slips on the slick surface and falls.

Louis is too far away to reach her before she falls but he sprints and dives into the fountain. He grabs for her dress and lifts Emma so she's mostly out of the water. He swims toward the edge, helping the little girl climbing out and sit on the ground. He puts his foot on the wall of the fountain, trying to find a support so he can lift himself. But the wall as the edge is slippery and he can't hold onto it when his foot slips and he hits his head on the side of the edge. He loses consciousness almost immediately, the last thing he knows is someone crying.

\---------------------------------

Aramis is about to say something about the Queen's idea to expand her husband's lodge in Versailles when he hears a piercing cry coming from behind the bushes. A quick glance toward the place where the children were playing moments before and he starts to run, recognizing his daughter's cry. He knows he's not alone when he hears Athos and the Queen behind him.

When he turns around the bushes, Emma is sitting beside the fountain, her hair and dress wet. He approaches her, deciding to comfort his baby girl, but a thought occurs to him. He looks around but Louis is nowhere to be seen. The answer is clear when he is near the fountain and he sees the still figure of the boy in the water. He doesn't waste any time, climbing into the fountain and slipping a little on the slimy ground. The water only reaches to his hips so he can reach the King with three steps instead of swimming to him. He lifts the boy, noticing a dark bruise on the forehead and he brings him to the ground.

The Queen is pale and she's trembling when Aramis lays her son on her feet. Athos is holding a still crying Emma in his arms, trying to calm her. Her Majesty kneels beside her boy, her hand hovering over her son, but not touching him. Aramis doesn't know if it's because she fears the worst or because she doesn't know how to proceed but he doesn't have time to find out. His only concern is to ensure that the King lives, so he puts his ear on Louis' chest, finding a weak heartbeat, and he nods to the Queen, who sighs in relief. He then turns Louis on his side, hoping that he'd throw up the water by himself. He doesn't notice Athos kneeling at his side, his dry and warm doublet in his hands.

"Let's undress him so he doesn't freeze, alright?" he whispers. Aramis nods, not trusting his voice. Athos takes off Louis’ doublet and shirt, replacing it with his. Aramis looks up, noticing the Queen with Emma in her arms, Athos' cloak keeping their daughter warm.

Once the Captain’s doublet is covering the King, Aramis resumes his task. He rubs Louis’ back, cajoling him to expel the water in his lungs. In addition, he gives little blows to help him.

After some minutes of this, Louis is still not throwing up. Aramis puts his fingers on the King's neck, searching for a pulse but this time he doesn't feel anything.

"No... no... Don't do this to me" he whispers, hitting harder on Louis back.

"Aramis, Aramis!" Athos stops him. "It's over," he adds, putting a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"No, it's not over," Aramis replies, an idea occurs to him. He sits Louis up, the boy's back on his chest, and tries one thing he saw done only once. He embraces the child, a hand folding in a fist pressed against Louis' chest, between his ribs. He puts the other hand on the fist and he starts pressing hard, like squeezing a pillow. He repeats this two or three times before Louis starts throwing up everything he has in his lungs. Aramis sighs in relief, keeping his son against his chest until Louis stops vomiting the water and starts to cough.

Aramis lays him on his side on the ground, resuming the massage on the child's back.

"You're okay. Breathe. Just breathe. Open your eyes. It's okay. It's over now. You're okay," he whispers to him. He keeps telling him this over and over until Louis cracks an eye open.

"Is Emma alright?" he asks, concerning about the little girl’s wellbeing instead of his own.

Aramis laughs almost hysterically, shaking his head in bewilderment.

"Yes, Your Majesty. Emma is well, thanks to you," he tells him. He lets the boy sits up and a cloud of fabric, skin, and hair envelope him.

Aramis stands up, leaving the Queen with her son, while he goes to Athos and Emma, who huddles against her father’s side, sleepy.

"Why don't we go home to enjoy our daughter? You just saved the King and I think the evening off is what you need," Athos says against Aramis hair.

"Yes, let's go home. I'd need a drink or two after this day," he whispers back.

"There's still that expensive bottle that waits for us," Athos tells him, leading Aramis home.

**Author's Note:**

> When Louis was 5 years old he almost drowned in one of the fountains in the Tuileries gardens. He was saved on the brick of death. I was inspired by this episode to write this one shot.
> 
> The illness Athos is referring to at the beginning is Pyelonephritis. In the show, Aramis became what we know be Cardinal Mazarin actually. The Cardinal suffered this illness for most of his life and he died because of it. So I put this other historical information in the one shot.


End file.
